Fourth-Grade Math

My fourth-grade son was sitting next to me at the table today, working on his math. His math for the day wasn’t anything new, it was all review. As he worked hard, he could hear his sisters playing upstairs. They had already gotten their schoolwork done for the day. He was miserable and kept giving me an attitude. I finally set down what I was working on and looked at him. We then had a conversation about grit. I explained to him that sometimes, you just have to push through. You have to dig deep and grind it out until you are done with school. “Just finish,” I told him. Our conversation reminded me of what I had read the last few days in Bible reading for my morning time.

Plenty of Hard Times

In the book of Acts, we read about Paul and Barnabas. Paul and Barnabas traveled and taught people about Jesus, that He was indeed the Messiah. They made converts everywhere they went, but they were always careful to fully explain to these converts what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. They told these new believers that anyone who chooses to follow Jesus will go through hard times. Paul says “plenty of hard times.”

After proclaiming the Message in Derbe and establishing a strong core of disciples, they retraced their steps to Lystra, then Iconium, and then Antioch, putting grit in the lives of the disciples, urging them to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit, making it clear to them that it wouldn’t be easy: “Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times. Acts 14:21,22 MSG

Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus; Paul chose Silas and, offered up by their friends to the grace of the Master, went to Syria and Cilicia to build up grit in those congregations. Acts 15:41 MSG

The Cost of Following Jesus

Paul understood better than anyone about the cost of following Jesus. He wanted others to know the truth about what they were choosing to do. Why? So they wouldn’t turn their backs on their faith when times got hard. Paul wanted those converts to develop grit. Webster’s dictionary defines grit as “firmness of mind or spirit: unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger.”

We have lost this part of teaching in our lives as Christians and in our churches today. We quickly forget that God never promised easy. He simply promised his presence. Jesus himself told His followers to pick up their cross daily and follow him.

Developing Grit

Sometimes, it takes good old-fashioned grit to stick with it. It takes determination to show up when we feel unappreciated, to keep loving people when they have hurt us so deeply, to continue ministering when we have been wronged, to serve in a ministry that doesn’t seem to be “successful” to the world’s standards, to love the spouse who is unloving towards us, to comfort the child who has been pushing us away, to love the unloveable people in our lives, to continue to care for someone who is ungrateful, and on and on the list could go. Most times it’s easier to throw in the towel and move on or start over. Find a new job, choose another church to minister in, let that friendship grow dormant, leave the spouse who has hurt us so deeply.

Paul reminds us that this life is going to be full of difficulties, but Jesus gave us help in the form of the Holy Spirit. He didn’t leave us alone to try to make it through this life on our own.

Standing with Heroes

We get knocked to the ground and kicked while we are down. Life comes at us from all directions, and sometimes it just seems like it’s all too much. Satan whispers to us that it’s all because of following Jesus. If we just walked away from our faith, from the person or people who hurt us or chose to no longer minister to others, the pain would go away.

We have to choose to dig in our feet, stand strong, grit our teeth, and say, “I am not quitting. When we do, we align ourselves with some of faith’s greatest heroes. Paul, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Stephen, Noah, Daniel, John, and of course Jesus. That’s a pretty impressive group of people to stand with!

More Encouragement

If you were encouraged reading this post, I wrote a book that talks a lot about this concept. It is called The Hidden Pain: When You Fear God is No Longer Blessing Your Life. It’s available on Amazon. Click HERE to order a copy today. If you do, be sure to let me know what you thought of it. You can also read my post Stick It Out: 3 Daily Choices to Prevent Quitting.